Sintilimab plus GemOx is an effective salvage therapy in patients with refractory⁄relapsing nodal peripheral T cell lymphomas

Peripheral T-cell lymphomas (PTCLs) are a heterogeneous group of rare malignancies. Once relapse or progression after front-line therapy, treatment options are minimal. We designed a retrospective study to explore the effectiveness and safety of chemoimmunotherapy in relapse or refractory nodal PTCLs. 31 patients with r/r nodal PTCLs were enrolled, including 23 PTCL-NOS, 4 AITL, and 4 ALCL. 21 (67.7%) patients received at least two lines of therapy. 71.0% (95% CI, 53.4%-83.9%) of patients documented objective response of 2–4 cycles of sintilimab plus GemOx therapy, including 9 complete response and 13 partial response. 21 (67.7%) patients received consolidation therapy, including 5 autologous stem-cell transplantation and 12 histone deacetylase inhibitors. After a median 25.6 months follow-up, the median PFS was 22.0 (95% CI,11.8–24.7) months, and the median OS was 26.2 (95% CI, 24.4 –NA) months. 29 (93.5%) patients experienced at least one adverse event, and 26 (83.9% patients only had mild (grade 1–2) AEs.Univariable Cox regression showed the progression risk of AITL is 22.7 (3.9–131.0, p < 0.01) times of PTCL-NOS, while the HR of ALCL was 1.14 (0.33–3.96,p = 0.833). Sintilimab plus GemOx showed encouraging activity and manageable toxicity for patients with r/r PTCL, warranting further investigations.